1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved photofinishing apparatus and more particularly to such apparatus wherein some of the sub-assemblies for carrying out the various functions of the photofinishing cycle are controlled by an electronic computer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In known photofinishing systems, the photofinishing operation is accomplished in a number of steps by a series of discrete equipment and machines. A customer order, when presented to the photofinishing system, includes some original material from which the prints are to be made, some customer-identifying information, and some order-identifying information including the size, type, and quantity of prints desired. As the customer orders are received, an operator separates the originals from the order information and the customer-identifying information and sets up a printer to produce the order based on the order-identifying information.
In the printer itself, exposure generally takes place onto photographic paper which is stored in the printer in roll form. The paper is wound off a supply roll, the prints are serially exposed on the paper, and the paper is wound up on a take-up after exposure. Negative or reversal paper is used, depending on the photographic polarity of the original. Known printers have varying degrees of automatic control. In cases where the original is in the form of long rolls of film or long support web rolls for mounted transparencies, fully automatic printers which operate with minimum manual aid are employed. A computer controls the working cycles and converts exposure data and mechanical sensor signals into instructions for the control of the printer. The computer processes the exposure data and controls the exposure time and the color composition of the light source in the printer according to the exposure calculations. An example of such a printer is the Kodak 2610 Color Printer manufactured by the Eastman Kodak Company.
After the prints have been made on the printer the rolls of exposed paper are taken from the printer and developed in a photographic processor. The roll of developed prints is then separated into individual prints by a print cutter.
An operator assembles the originals with the finished prints, the customer-identifying information, and the order information. An operator then computes the customer's bill based on the order information and any customer discount information that may be applicable and the billing information is included with the order.
Computer-operated billing systems are known which automatically compute the customer bill based on order information input by an operator and pricing data and customer discount data stored in the computer. An example of such a system is the Pakomp II, manufactured by the Pako Corporation.
At each stage of the photofinishing operation described above, steps must be taken to preserve the identity between the customer-identifying information, the originals and the copies. To preserve this identity, an order-identifying code is generally applied to the customer-identifying information, to the originals, and to the copies. It will be noted from the above description that some of the same information that is used to program the printer is also used later to compute the customer's bill. This duplication of information handling by an operator results in a risk that the information will be improperly encoded with the consequent possibility of mistakes being made in the orders.